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What the Classroom Didn't Teach Me About the American Empire

zcommunications.org — With an occupying army waging war in Iraq and Afghanistan, with military bases and corporate bullying in every part of the world, there is hardly a question any more of the existence of an American Empire. Indeed, the once fervent denials have turned into a boastful, unashamed embrace of the idea.

Bury

notque 189 days ago

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numberneal, on 04/04/2008, -5/+19the superpower with the droopy dollar;
SuperMoses, on 04/04/2008, -7/+39"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom. " - Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Groovemaster, on 04/05/2008, -2/+9If only the money was actually being spent on military defense instead of military aggression.
  - commernie, on 04/05/2008, -1/+2That wouldn't be so much better. I mean, the money would still not be spent on things that benefit society.
    - Groovemaster, on 04/06/2008, -0/+4Yes it would be much better. All nations need some kind of defense system, but the USA is little more than a giant war corporation where the vast majority of resources are put into global slaughter in order to bring profit to the richest few percent of Americans.
      
      The whole world would be far better off.
- expatcatalyst, on 04/05/2008, -0/+2Amen!
notque, on 04/04/2008, -7/+23Going to quote a section from this article. I remember very well being curious as a child learning about the class room map.

"I recall the classroom map (labeled "Western Expansion") which presented the march across the continent as a natural, almost biological phenomenon. That huge acquisition of land called "The Louisiana Purchase" hinted at nothing but vacant land acquired. There was no sense that this territory had been occupied by hundreds of Indian tribes which would have to be annihilated or forced from their homes -- what we now call "ethnic cleansing" -- so that whites could settle the land, and later railroads could crisscross it, presaging "civilization" and its brutal discontents.

Neither the discussions of "Jacksonian democracy" in history courses, nor the popular book by Arthur Schlesinger Jr., The Age of Jackson, told me about the "Trail of Tears," the deadly forced march of "the five civilized tribes" westward from Georgia and Alabama across the Mississippi, leaving 4,000 dead in their wake. No treatment of the Civil War mentioned the Sand Creek massacre of hundreds of Indian villagers in Colorado just as "emancipation" was proclaimed for black people by Lincoln's administration.

That classroom map also had a section to the south and west labeled "Mexican Cession." This was a handy euphemism for the aggressive war against Mexico in 1846 in which the United States seized half of that country's land, giving us California and the great Southwest."
loganhuddleston, on 04/05/2008, -1/+18Here is the entire book. A people's history of the United States in PDF. We are reading it in our American History class.

http://ditext.com/zinn/zinn-frame1.html
- commernie, on 04/05/2008, -0/+1Really? You guys must have an awesome teacher. In my AH class we never read anything that would remotely challenge the concept of "America the beautiful".
- expatcatalyst, on 04/05/2008, -0/+1Thanks for sharing! I was wondering how to get my hands on a copy.
- humanerror, on 04/06/2008, -0/+1I literally just bought this book yesterday. :)
  
  Nice timing
chocobomog, on 04/05/2008, -5/+12This guy hasn't been a student in an American classroom in over 50 years then. They do teach about the Trail of Tears, Mexican Cession, Spanish-American War, Korean War, etc, and the term "American Empire" does come up. Many of those participants he mentions in the "largest anti-war riots in history" against Vietnam actually became teachers and taught these beliefs to children of the 70's, 80's, and 90's. I heard more negative discussion about the US Empire in my history classes than I heard almost anywhere else (until Digg came around, that is). Seriously, how often do hear about people complaining about the "too conservative" college history teachers?

Want to know you don't hear about the same negativity about the Iraq Wars? Its too soon and new textbooks cost too much. But just wait another decade and many of the current anti-war demonstrators will be teachers and schools can afford (some) new textbooks.

Not saying it is right or wrong, but the "negative" aspects that this war vet brings up are actually quite prevalent in our educational system. Most kids just don't grasp it or care.
- notque, on 04/05/2008, -3/+11My experience was different than yours. I went to school in the 90s, and they did not teach that the Mexican Cession was an aggressive war against Mexico. They did not teach the Sand Creek massacre.
  
  I certainly did not hear negative discussion about the U.S.
  
  Not about our Terrorist Wars in Latin America. Not about our war crimes in WW2.
  
  It was all glossed over, with a priority on remembering dates as opposed to understanding what happened.
  
  And I was a straight A student in academically talented courses, so I don't think it had anything to do not caring. I read Bertrand Russell intently in Middle School.
  - Zarokima, on 04/05/2008, -0/+7I'm taking American History in high school right now (ranked #1 or #2 in the state, so well above-average) and it hasn't changed too much.
    
    We did "learn" about Sand Creek, but it was never referred to as a massacre. I actually had to wikipedia that to find out what you were talking about. We were taught that it was in retaliation for the indians killing a few of our men who went to negotiate peace.
    
    We did learn about Teddy Roosevelt's big stick diplomacy, but we were taught that it referred to the harsh manner in which he dealt with "bad" nations.
    
    I don't even remember the ***** excuse for the Trail of Tears.
    
    This is an AP class, and from what I've heard the GT course is about the same.
    - notque, on 04/05/2008, -1/+4Exactly. School does not teach you about what really happened in the world from the side of those oppressed. They tell the story in a sanitized way without implicating our country in the least manner. As time moves on, some crimes become too large to ignore, like the genocide of the Native Americans, but it still isn't talked about in a meaningful way towards the victims.
- JigoroKano, on 04/05/2008, -0/+7I went to school in the 80-90's. Manifest destiny came up, as a definition, and neither presented as positive or negative. Imperialism never really came up. The Mexican "secession" was presented in the typical patriotic, ***** fashion. I was able to figure that out for myself, just by reading between the lines. But the Vietnam and Korean wars were still presented as akin to our current war on terrorism. We were nearing the end of the Cold War and communism was still something to be feared.
  
  The Trail of Tears and some other atrocities against natives and African slaves was handled pretty well though perhaps not in a coherent manner. Of course, some of my peers didn't perceive these things as necessarily wrong.
  
  I did have one history teacher that pitched the idea that something like that NAZI Germany could happen anywhere, even here. Unfortunately he was a horrible teacher, so I'm not sure how well that sunk in with people.
- commernie, on 04/05/2008, -0/+3My experience was similar to the previous two posts. I went to high school in late 90s, and I hardly saw anything that could be considered criticism of the US or its "leaders".
  
  Now that I think about it, I had a rather funny experience in middle school. My 7th grade social studies teacher was told us about the Cuban revolution. He said that the US helped Castro overthrow Batista, and that, on the day after the revolution (Jan 1st, 1959), Castro made some sort of radio announcement saying something like: "thanks to the US for helping the Cuban revolution. One more thing: I am a communist."
  
  I know it sounds like a joke, but it isn't. The guy was serious. And he had most of the class convinced that this is what happened. I have to think that a lot of people still believe that. It almost makes sense why people grow up believing that the US is a force of good fighting against evil, among many other lies. They are indoctrinated with it from a very young age.
coffee200am, on 04/05/2008, -6/+1Oh well...
theshizzler, on 04/05/2008, -0/+14I remember learning about all of these things, but they were never put into any sort of context. We had to know that the Louisiana Purchase happened, that the Trail of Tears happened, but not how they contributed and/or effected later events. School was all about content, not context. I only connected the dots in college and later. And don't even get me started on non-American history... Ancient Rome and Greece? I learned more about their mythologies than their histories.
LoJack, on 04/05/2008, -0/+5"... more than 700 American military bases outside of the United States." Including Iraq?
- expatcatalyst, on 04/05/2008, -0/+3This is part of the problem that Ron Paul has spoke about over and over. We are spending money on all of those Imperialist pushes into where we don't need to be. OK RP reference, getting dugg down in 5,4,3,2,..........
DrHoliday, on 04/05/2008, -4/+7I read plenty on the negative aspects of American History. If you're in an advanced History class - AP US History - the AP Board has set guidelines and specific books that do cover these topics.

One thing I am noticing however - there seems to be a myopic focus on the 'evil' past of America and what it has done. However, one look at any other country can show atrocities that equal and exceed the trail of tears, the forced resettlement of Indian land, etc.

Things should be taken into perspective sometimes. I don't deny at all that what the United States did to the Native Americans was wrong. It was horrible, despicable, selfish, and above all intolerable. But it's nothing unusual in that time period.

We should be focusing on the current transgressions of the US Government rather than dive through history trying to find ways to make the nation look bad. Because frankly, the skeletons in the American closet are nothing compared to those of Europe.
- coffee200am, on 04/05/2008, -1/+3Like the European Spanish Conquistadors spreading disease and death all through the Inca Empire....all for gold.
- theshizzler, on 04/05/2008, -1/+4"Because frankly, the skeletons in the American closet are nothing compared to those of Europe."
  
  Give us time, we're still new.
- arjie, on 04/05/2008, -1/+5I hate to trot out the oldest line on the topic but, "those who forget history are doomed to repeat it". It's important to know the things America has done in the past as well as the things it does now, in cases you can see parallels and sometimes you can see where things are going by seeing how a similar situation played out in the past. It is also important to know and acknowledge the atrocities of other countries. Knowing one does not preclude knowing the other.
- madfrogurt, on 04/05/2008, -3/+1I was in the same boat as you. I was taught US history by a Latino professor who went through the 60's as a student activist. He primarily taught us 'alternative history' of the US, focusing on the atrocities and ill conceived wars without much context of the actions within the scope of the greater world community.
  
  Finishing up college now, I can see that the US has a place in history that was above par for morality given its place in history. Not clear of wrongdoings, but not a constant source of worldwide strife either. If we approached world history as my teacher approached US history, I don't see how anyone walking out of the class would believe that humanity was worth having alive.
  
  The problem is that he taught the class without any respect for the ideals of our country and never emphasized the times when our better characteristics prevailed.
  - commernie, on 04/05/2008, -1/+1"I can see that the US has a place in history that was above par for morality given its place in history."
    I disagree. The US is the most brutal and dishonest empire the world has ever seen. No contest...
DrPaul2008, on 04/05/2008, -2/+8US citizens need to understand that we haven't been the "good guys" since the Revolutionary War.
- madfrogurt, on 04/05/2008, -4/+2Are there any good guys then? It seems like the only way for a group of people can be "good" (or at least be clean from transgressions of the past) is to be oppressed by other groups.
  - notque, on 04/05/2008, -1/+5It's funny that not committing atrocities just isn't an option to you.
  - madfrogurt, on 04/05/2008, -0/+1This isn't a rhetorical question to excuse atrocities of the past, it's a legitimate question if ANY country ever has been part of the "good guys." Every country has had its mistakes, so is no country good?
    - DrPaul2008, on 04/05/2008, -0/+1You're on to something. It's the nature of governments. That is why ours was supposed to be as limited as possible. Why we are supposed to be non-interventionist.
      
      That government is best which governs least.
      
      Do you realize that Anne Frank's family requested to move to the United States, but we wouldn't allow it? We did the exact opposite of what we were supposed to do, which is not get involved with the endless warring of the rest of the world, but be free, and open, to those who were brave enough to come and try to live freely. Our citizens were free to enlist with militaries from around the world if they, as individuals, felt there was merit to the war, and they did.
      
      I only bring up WW2 because that seems to be a very popular one amongst most people, although I could go on and on about how ***** up we were then, too.
Scheissen, on 04/05/2008, -4/+2lol public schools
FizzanoMatrix, on 04/05/2008, -3/+1What most people don't remember is the fact that Elliot Spitzer got nearly 4 million PCs installed with Ubuntu in inner city Oklahoma suburbs, providing a much needed lift to the sector GDP.
madfrogurt, on 04/05/2008, -6/+2While I think Zinn does offer a needed counterbalance to the "we never did anything wrong" crowd, I think he has the same myopic view of history that extremists of all political views fall into.

Just as he equated every war with US involvement as part of creating the US empire (even in Afghanistan and WWII), he also seems to see empire building and national influence as the same. Whether its knocking down a government and installing a puppet government, or simply exerting economic influence on a country within the superpower's sphere of influence, he sees the actions as all equally deplorable.

While we can argue that all nations should be self governing and free from any outside influence or control, this simply does not conform to what our history has shown us. 'Powerful' nations, whether their power lies in its military, economy, or culture, tend to gain power and varying amounts of control over 'weaker' ones. The debate and condemnation should not be on this quite natural flow of power, but over the extremes and excesses which can happen.
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What the Classroom Didn't Teach Me About the American Empire

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